Off The Grid’s Travis Irvine: John Who? Donald Trump Embarrasses Kasich in Ohio

Right when I thought I didn’t have anything to talk about at Thanksgiving dinner in Ohio this week, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has given me something else to be thankful for.Like many Ohioans, I’ve long despised our buttfaced Republican governor John Kasich, and knew well before the rest of the country that while he kept denying it, Kasich’s gubernatorial reelection bid in 2014 was always a ploy to launch a full-fledged run for president this year.But like many of his establishment cohorts, Kasich is a self-serving political monster who should never be president, so the fact that an outsider New York billionaire is demolishing Kasich in the polls nationally -- and more notably, in Ohio -- makes this whole 2016 ordeal even sweeter.Add to this that Kasich stopped playing nice a few weeks ago and unleashed his inner-self on The Donald, which only put more spice in the stew.First Kasich called Trump’s immigration policies “crazy” before the most recent GOP debate, then tried to attack Trump over those policies again in the debate and failed miserably.Kasich’s super PAC then ran an ad attacking Trump’s lack of experience, for which Trump threatened to sue and launched a 12-tweet attack back at Kasich.

This set the stage for Trump’s first visit to Ohio as a presidential candidate on Monday, and boy, did Kasich roll out everything except the red carpet.While our governor campaigned in Ohio’s rival state of Michigan -- during our big college football rivalry week, no less -- his super PAC released more attack ads against Trump and his campaign held conference calls with Kasich supporters to explain why Trump would be so bad for the GOP and America.To fly his point home even more, Kasich’s super PAC also hired a plane to fly a banner over the Greater Columbus Convention Center before Trump’s rally, reading “Ohioans Can’t Trust Trump,” and Kasich’s minions stood loyally by the Convention Center’s door beforehand passing out fliers that read, “You Can’t Trust Trump.”Last but not least, Ohio GOP chairman and noted scumbag Matt Borges advised Trump before the rally -- within his official capacity as a party leader as well as a Kasich supporter -- that any extended attacks on Kasich during the speech would likely backfire.So Trump went “easy” on Kasich -- after an earlier counterpunch tweet, Trump only noted at the beginning of his speech that Kasich (whose name he mispronounced repeatedly) was only at 2 percent in the polls, asking “what happened?”There were a few jeers that could’ve been for Kasich or Trump, but then it was over and Trump moved on to what he does best -- bashing illegal immigrants, ISIS, Obama, his opponents and the whole nine yards.It was the classic sports strategy -- let the scoreboard speak for itself while you blatantly mispronounce your opponent’s name.

While Kasich’s campaign manager and failed political operative John Weaver immediately hailed Trump’s minor attacks as a victory and an excuse to beg for more money in a campaign email after the rally, Trump left Ohio still a better presidential candidate than Kasich would ever be.Trump’s rally drew well over 10,000 loyal followers -- a mix of Tea Party Republicans, political independents and millennial fans looking for something different in the world of politics.By comparison, when Kasich announced his candidacy at his alma mater the Ohio State University this summer, he drew only 2,000 supporters, his speech was labeled as a “strong case for the teleprompter,” and his campaign got caught trying to keep out any potential detractors or opponents, whereas Trump usually just kicks them out like a boss.Let’s also keep in mind that most news networks covering Kasich’s announcement that day cut away from his long and pointless speech to cover Trump’s rally in South Carolina, where The Donald had just read Sen. Lindsey Graham’s personal cell phone number on the air.Yes, this is the difference between Trump and the spineless establishment shitheads he’s running against like Kasich.No matter what you think of Trump, be grateful that he is at least bringing these political hacks to their knees in their own backyards -- and people are enjoying the show.

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